Ungli

'Ungli' has a good premise & to an extent, it does justice to it. But, overall, the Writing Material, despite its noble & genuine intentions, doesn't work entirely. Its interesting in parts, not totally.

'Ungli' Synopsis: A gang of friends decide to take justice into their own hands & turn into vigilantes. Things take a turn when a cop goes undercover to grill them.

'Ungli' makes an honest attempt to take upon the burning issue of corruption that exists in our country even today. The film begins well & the 'Ungli' Gang give us some gripping sequences, but the pace drops as soon as the Cop enters the scene. The second-hour doesn't hold appeal & the culmination looks hurried. Despite a crisp running-time of 113-minutes, 'Ungli' still isn't able to rise above its flaws.

Rensil D'Silva's Screenplay works in bits & pieces. A much tighter second-hour was needed. Milan Zaveri's dialogue, however, are super. D'Silva's Direction is ordinary. Cinematography & Editing are mention-worthy. Music by Various Artists is tuneful.

Performance-Wise: Sanjay Dutt delivers a restrained performance. Emraan Hashmi is sincere, although the length of his role is surprisingly short in the first-hour. Randeep Hooda is ever-effective. Kangana Ranaut doesn't get much to do. She looks gorgeous, though. Angad Bedi & Neil Bhoopalam are fair. Neha Dhupia is passable.

On the whole, 'Ungli' is a half-baked fare.

Ungli punches the system of Maharashtra's State Govt. Especially the corruption in the financial capital of India, Mumbai. A few incidents of bribe, violence, crime are portrayed with Masala which create conflicts.

Dialogues are very poor. The cast was strong, looked above average. Although the plot, topic is about the wrongdoings by the Government servants only in Mumbai, it was necessary to throw light on. However, they couldn't stretch them longer and kept diverging in the middle.

There were lots of mistakes in the movie. Many instances didn't look necessary. A few poor scenes needed to be replaced. Cinematography was extremely poor. Something better could have been made out of this story.

There were turns, tent poles, however, most of them were predictable. I enjoyed the way the movie started, few good scenes in the middle to keep us gripping. Climax was exceptionally amazing, however, if truth be told, not 100% believable. If the system did work like this, they would have changed it already. How come this strong antagonist who had been invincible until now get completely devastated and could do nothing during the climax. The issue with Bollywood over the years has been the same, they don't create a believable climax. They try to destroy the antagonist supernaturally.

It was Rang De Basanti which ignited the fire within the common man to fight against corruption and turned out to be an event film . UNGLI had all the ingredients that makes it a perfect hard- hitting flick but 2nd half spoils the mood and it is a like a matar paneer without salt.

Plagued by corruption arising in every part of the society, 4 friends form a group called UNGLI to fight against it in their own way.

After bold attempt in Kurbaan , Renzil D'Silva does a fine a job as a director. However the screenplay looses the steam aftermath. The beginning of the film and narration of story of the protagonist is beautifully depicted . The later reel flips and falls flat heavily with unnecessary song and less-impacting climax. Screenplay could have been better. Dialogues are good. Editing required extra effort. Cinematography and art direction is bad. Among the actors, only Randeep Hooda stands out while none could make impact with their performance. Emraan Hashmi is as usual wooden face. It is high-time he should start looking for better roles. Kangana Raunat fails to make impact this time. Sanjay Dutt is OK.

Overall , a very good effort in trying out something different but 2nd half makes it a spoilsport. Average 2/5

Ungli starts off really well. There is nothing new in the plot. The characters are quite fresh and look appropriate for there roles. The incidents happen quite quickly and you will the movie will be a racy thriller. Sadly, it starts to falter after first 20 minutes and then it just drags along. There is nothing in the movie which takes you by surprise and it becomes quite boring towards the end. Acting wise Randeep Hooda, Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi have done reasonably well. Emraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut are wasted.There was no need for Sanjay Dutt and anyone could have played that role. The songs are not needed and just bore you. Overall, Ungli turns out to be a carbonated drink which fizzes out as soon as you open the bottle !

In Ungli, four friends,instigated by a tragic incident and invigorated with the denial of justice,take law into their hands by turning into vigilantes.This theme might have germinated from Rang De Basanti whose screenplay was co-written by director Rensil Desilva who sensitized us with his recalcitrance in that 2006 runaway hit.The idea might seem interesting, but Rensil offers quite a implausible solution to the mammoth-shaped problem that has plagued our society - corruption.

A crime reporter working for a hotshot TV Channel(Randeep Hooda), a medical intern(Kangana), a techie(Neil Bhoopalan) and a garage mechanic(Angad Bedi)join hands to dispense justice to the common man by taking into tasks the corrupt entities in our system.Together, they form the 'Ungli' gang, a metaphor for 'balls to the inefficient system and law' who punish the corrupt bureaucrats, local politicians, arrogant auto-rickshaw wallas in innovative ways,without being violent.Their masked-vigilantism goes viral with each of their accomplishments being video-taped by themselves and sent to media and grabs everyone's eyeballs causing agony to the police department.Enter ACP Kale(Sanjay Dutt)to nab these 'criminals' before they are idolized like Batman of Gotham city!And soon he realizes that to track them , you gotta think like them.Kale appoints the cop with a notorious streak, Nikhil(Emraan Hashmi) who infiltrates the gang, but later finds himself struggling with the predicament of dutifulness and conscientious action.

Without delving into the details of the protagonists, Rensil who has also scripted the story, takes the narrative at a break-neck speed providing the piping-hot vignettes of the Ungli gang's operations.Though it appears too smooth and simplistic, its the fun and quirk quotient that keeps us hooked.Equally entertaining are the corny dialogues (Milap Zaveri) and witty one-liners which are written only to garner whistles and they are pun-intended when you see them uttered by Hashmi and Dutt. Sample this - When Hashmi's character says to Dutt, "I want you to be back in the business",he retaliates sarcastically "Meri Billi mujhi se miwaaon!" Some of the portions are ignored conveniently, like the budding romance between Hashmi and Kangana and some subplots, like Hooda pursuing the sexy news reporter played by Neha Dhupia,are given too much of importance,ultimately diluting the impact.What goes against the film is the climax which is too convenient for a finale and devoid of an anticipated hard- hitting tone.

The entire cast does a good job here, specially Randeep Hooda who emotes according to the pulse of any sequence.Kangana Ranaut is sadly relegated to the background, and I wished she had a more meaty role.Emraan Hashmi appears too tired and uninterested to be in the familiar character space while Dutt exudes commendable screen presence even with a salt-n-pepper hairdo and drooling eyes.The camaraderie's in the gang is spot-on which adds to the film's strengths.

On the whole, Ungli is a feel-good entertainer which doesn't make you leave the theater with a heavy heart but you will certainly retrospect - wasn't it too far-fetched an idea ! It has got its heart at the right place but finger on the wrong pulse. Rating : 2.5/5